A Guide on How to Fight Depression

Being depressed and anxious are two closely related disorders. Studies show that 60-70% of victims of depression are also victims of anxiety problems. Incidentally, those with anxiety disorders are also potential candidates for being clinically depressed.

In these two cases, the person’s ability to respond to stress is overly active. The excessive activity of this response system causes the center for the emotion of the brain to overload. This leads to an excessive reception of the negative events a person experiences. An unequal blow happens, and thus, affects our systems’ ability to properly judge an event. You won’t be able to discern properly until all you can think about are the hardships, failures, and problems you’ve gone through.

Researchers who have looked into these cases saw that people react to every situation as if everything is in danger and that everything will go wrong. And for those who have already crossed the anxiety phase and have become depressed, there seems to be a sort of meltdown as a result of always anticipating the danger.

Those with anxiety or depression have the tendency to blow up the risk in proportion and undervalue their ability to handle the situation. The fears are avoided by the victims when they should have been honing their ability to fight off these fears. Most of the time, having poor people skills is the cause of the problem.

Now that we know for a fact that anxiety happens before depression, there is a great opportunity for people to learn how to fight depression. Younger ones have the tendency to have a hard time outgrowing anxiety by themselves. Thus they need to be helped in developing certain mental abilities.

One of the solutions on how to fight depression is the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy or CBT. This therapy works on a person’s response patterns. The drug usually used against depression has also been known as an effective defense against anxiety problems.

Despite having the medicines for depression and anxiety reduction, CBT has been found to be better at avoiding the relapse of the illness. Most patients also prefer this treatment more because it gives them the sense of control and responsibility for their healing.

Through CBT, patients are taught to monitor their surroundings and the causes of their depression. Through this method, the cortex’ metabolic activities are changed. This allows the brain to modulate the states of moods. This method works on a top to bottom strategy, compared to medicines, which work from the bottom up.

It takes about 12-15 weeks to finish the whole CBT. However, by week 6, patients can already observe big improvements in their state.

While therapies are of great effect, exercise should also be seen as a great helping factor in a person’s mood improvement. Neurohormones, which are involved in the functioning of our emotions, are seen improving whenever a person exercises. Exercise has a calming effect on the tendency of the nervous system to become hyperactive. More so, exercise also helps the brain judge emotions and handle stress. More importantly, it helps the person feel better about themselves and make them see themselves as masters of their mind and body. By doing exercise, the person also has a greater tendency to do away with negative thoughts.

Lastly, a person who plans to fight depression must live and enjoy each day. At the same time, treat himself for every goal that he has completed. He shouldn’t feel that these steps are just small. After a while, progress can already be seen. When one looks back, he’ll see the benefits of the energy he has put into his road to recovery.